Stomping Through the Savoy Cocktail Book

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Daily Archives: June 7, 2008

It’s odd, I still find otherwise sensible people parroting the “thujone hype” about Wormwood and Absinthe.

A couple points which I will repeat.

Wormwood contains a compound called Thujone. This compound is toxic in large doses, (as is most everything you can possibly consume, including water.) Experiments with lab animals show large doses may cause convulsions. However, the LD50 (Median Lethal Dose) for Thujone is around the same as that of Caffeine and many other substances which are “Generally Regarded as Safe”. No scientific evidence has ever been found for any sort of hallucinatory experience resulting from consumption of Absinthe or Thujone. Unless you count Delerium Tremens.

It would be impossible to consume enough of Absinthe (or similar) to result in a large enough dose of Thujone to reach anywhere near toxic levels for humans. Even with those Absinthe (or Absinthe-like substances) which tout their high levels of Thujone. Alcohol is far more toxic than Thujone (or Caffeine,) meaning, you would die of alcohol poisoning long before you reached anywhere near toxic levels of Thujone in your system.

Another point, Wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) is very, very bitter. A substance in it called “Absinthin” is among the most bitter substances known. Of those plants commonly consumed or used medicinally, only Rue is more bitter than Wormwood. Placing a piece of wormwood leaf on your tongue is not a pleasant experience. However, because properly made Absinthe is a distilled spirit, not unlike Gin, most of the organic substances, including the Absinthin are left behind in the still. Thus Absinthe is not a particularly bitter beverage, (depending on your perspective and whether or not you’re a “super taster”.) In any case, it’s no Campari or Aperol.

A last point, proper distillation of Absinthe leaves almost no trace of Thujone in the final product. Almost all modern distilled Absinthes, and all vintage Absinthes which have been tested to date, fall below the levels of Thujone which the EU declares safe. Most would even probably test safe by the standards which the TTB (US Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau) currently requires. Thujone does not like to be carried by the alcohol vapors along with the other desired elements. It only starts to come across in the still very late in the distillation, as the temperature rises enough for water and other undesirable elements to make their way into vapor. The only practical way to make a beverage with a large amount of Thujone is either by infusion or by adding Wormwood extract.

Interestingly, however, many old bar books contain recipes like the following, from from a 1934 edition of “Harry Johnson’s 1882 New and Improved Bartender’s Manual and a Guide for Hotels and Restaurants”.

Gin and Wormwood: (Use a small bar glass.) Take six to eight sprigs of wormwood, put these in a quart bottle and fill up with Holland gin; leave this stand for a few days, until the essence of the wormwood is extracted into the gin. In handing out this, pour a little of the above into a small whiskey glass and hand it with the bottle of gin to the customer to help himself. This drink is popular in the eastern part of the country, where the wormwood is used as a substitute for bitters.

My initial impression is these recipes were really more intended as hair of the dog type tonics than recreational beverages, but I’m game.

I infused about a cup of Tanqueray Gin with a sprig of wormwood and a sprig of the indomitable mint which grows in our community garden for a couple weeks.

We’ve had a few defunct ingredients, so far: Hercules, Caperitif, East Indian Punch, Secrestat Bitters… But, for most of those, cocktaildb has had substitution recommendations.

“Tom Gin”, though, is one that has always stumped me.

There is still one made in the US by Boord’s. However, most opinions I’ve read don’t think much of that gin. The surly, and now deceased, barkeep at Aub Zam Zam in San Francisco did insist on making his Martinis with it, and calling for any other gin, got you kicked out the door of that establishment.

I’ve heard the now defunct Tanqueray Malacca was a fairly decent substitution for Tom Gin. Unfortunately, I’ve never run across that gin anywhere.

It’s been suggested to me, by persons who would know, that Junipero, slightly sweetened, isn’t a bad substitution. Of course I can’t leave well enough alone, so, as Old Tom Gin is regarded as the “missing link” between Genever and London Dry Gin, I threw in some Jonge Genever.

A perfectly tasty, and slightly sweet gin cocktail. As far as “special” goes, I’d really have to give the nod to the plain old “Byrrh Cocktail” above as something truly special and unique.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.